From a young age, we are indoctrinated into believing that with fall comes the beginning of a new year for us; a new school year, that is. We go back-to-school shopping, we reorganize, and we create fresh, new identities to carry us into the coming school year. With that mentality ever-present in adulthood, with summer’s end, the same clinical approach is there but without the structure of school. Which, for a Virgo like myself, is an arduous torture.
As we graduate and move on from curriculums, and schedules, and deadlines- we find less and less to hold ourselves accountable, and more reasons to procrastinate. Losing the structure that was meticulously crafted for us and thrust into a world where failure could likely mean unemployment.
New Years, then, becomes our adult fresh start; our tabula rasa; a phoenix rising from the ashes (of a year riddled with poor decision making). When we inevitably forego our resolutions and continue living with hedonistic abandon, we use September, and fall, as our second-coming of sorts. Reasonable? Probably not. But somewhat reassuring knowing that the year can be split into two truths: the resolutions you give yourself at the beginning of the year and the ones you actually maintain from the start of fall onwards.
My personal favorite is to invest in a new journal and find a way to incorporate it into my life in a way that benefits maintaining a schedule, a routine, and habits that will hopefully better my questionable decision making. Below, a few personal favorites that I’ve found actually do the job in a way that is both fun and creative, but also in keeping with my theme of studious and refined. Will a planner change my life in a vast way? No, but it will introduce orderliness in an infinitesimal way that will encourage me to introduce more micro-habits that will!
Listen- nothing is worse for anxiety than the fear of not knowing and wondering, “what if?” It can replay in your head for days, haunt you into the night, and leave you procrastinating through your actual busy days because you’re stuck between a metaphoric rock and a hard place. Creating minute changes that provide some structure, then, can channel that anxiety into something productive. A new hobby, perhaps? A fall cooking class? A weekly workout? Whatever you choose to incorporate into your Second-New Year, being organized about it might actually inspire you to see it through.
Mantra of the Week:
“Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you’re willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” — Lou Holtz
Song of the Week: These Days- Nico
ARIES
You don’t need closure. You need to stop checking their Instagram like there’s going to be a press release.
TAURUS
Your bank account would like to remind you that “fall wardrobe” is not an emergency expense category.
GEMINI
You’ve told three different people three different versions of the same story. Somehow, they’re all true.
CANCER
Stop romanticizing people just because they were nice to you twice. The bar is currently in hell’s basement.
LEO
You’re entering a powerful new era of doing things exclusively because you know you’ll look good doing them.
VIRGO
You cannot organize your way out of an existential crisis. But a new Notes app list certainly won’t hurt.
LIBRA
Your biggest challenge this week is making a decision without conducting a focus group of seven friends first.
SCORPIO
Someone thinks you’re mad at them. You weren’t, but now that you know they’re worried about it, you kind of like it.
SAGITTARIUS
You’re one minor inconvenience away from booking a trip you absolutely cannot afford. Godspeed.
CAPRICORN
You’ve been “so busy” for six consecutive months. At some point this is no longer a busy week. This is your personality.
AQUARIUS
You’re about to disappear for 48 hours, respond to nobody, then return to the group chat with “wait what happened.”
PISCES
The person you invented in your head and the person you’re actually talking to are unfortunately two different people.